Previously, to create thermoformed items formed from plastic or other suitable materials having details disposed on opposite sides of the item, these items needed to be created using different and multiple molding processes. More specifically, the sheet of material or fluid material from which the item is to be formed is initially positioned within or directed into an injection or compression molding device in order to create the detail or feature required on one side of the item. Subsequently, the material sheet is positioned or run through a suitable thermoforming device to complete the formation of the item from the material.
However, this process has a number of significant drawbacks. First, when the sheet is positioned within the thermoforming device to finalize the form for the item, often times the thermoforming process results in the partial or complete deformation or destruction of the detail on the sheet. Thus the resulting item is often not usable for its intended purpose due to the damage done to the detail.
Additionally, to initially form the detail in the sheet or fluid material, the process requires that the sheet or fluid material be processed utilizing the injection or compression molding process, which is a process and device necessarily separate from the thermoforming device and process. Therefore, this prior art method for forming the item requires both a detail molding device and step, which can be either an injection molding step or a compression molding step, as well as the final thermoforming step used to create the final form for the item. The multiple steps and molding devices required for each step significantly increases the complexity and the costs for producing the item.
Therefore, it is desirable to develop a device and method for thermoforming an item which is capable of forming details on opposed sides of the item in a single step utilizing only the thermoforming device.